On 27 October 2023, before the two-day study visit to the former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau planned for 1-2 December 2023, the College of Europe in Natolin hosted a high-level preparatory lecture by Dr Piotr M.A. CYWIŃSKI, Director of the Museum and Memorial, on the topic:
Auschwitz - la mémoire 80 ans après la libération
Prof. Georges MINK moderated the discussion. The event was part of the tailor-made Auschwitz-Birkenau Educational Project implemented within the overarching topical framework of Borderlands.
About the Speaker:
Dr Piotr M.A. CYWIŃSKI was born on 16 April 1972 in Warsaw. Doctor of humanities, medieval historian, graduate of Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, the Catholic University of Lublin, and the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Science. Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim since 2006.
Vice-president of the Warsaw Catholic Intelligentsia Club from 1996-2000, and president since 2000. A participant in the Polish-Jewish and Christian-Jewish dialogues, the Ukrainian-Polish dialogue, and other borderland dialogues. Graduate of the International Borderland School for Cultural, Educational, and Social Leaders Acting for the Sake of the Multicultural Regions of Central-Eastern Europe. Member since 2002 of the Polish Episcopate Working Group for discussions with the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine. Member of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews since 2007. Named Ambassador of the International Year of Intercultural Dialogue in 2008.
In charge of accreditation for the 1999 visit to Poland by John Paul II, and later plenipotentiary of the board of the Polish Information Agency. Executive vice-director from 2000-2002 of the Europalia 2001 Poland Festival, and later head of the foreign programs department in the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Co-founder of the St. Adalbert Forum, which brings together several score Christian movements and associations desirous of working together for the sake of a Christian contribution to the shaping of Europe. Chairman of the Board of the Forum, whose greatest achievement to date has been the Gniezno Congresses in March 2003, 2004, September 2005 and June 2007. Deputy chairman for Europe of the Pax Romana International Federation of Organizations of Catholic Intellectuals in 2004-2008.
Member of the International Auschwitz Council, and its secretary from 2000-2006. From 2005-2014 deputy chairman of the Council of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. From 2010-2016 member of the Council for the Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom (ROPWiM) and from 2009-2018 member of the Board of Museums at the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Nominated by Władysław Bartoszewski as Chairman of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which he co-founded. Co-founder and chairman of the board of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Institute, chief expert of the Center for Research on Economics of Memorial Sites (at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities), co-founder and chairman of the Society for Management of the Memorial Sites.
In 2009-2017 Member of the Board of Trustees of the II World War Museum to be built in Gdańsk. Member of the Board of the Foundation for the Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk, founded by the German Episcopate Conference. From 2010 a member and from 2011 a Board Member of the Maison d'Izieu Memorial in France. From 2015 a member of 'Memorial' in Moscow. Between 2017-2021 he was a Chairman of the Program Board of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.